#coal export action

[radicalresistancetour]

[radicalresistancetour]

[radicalresistancetour]

"The Last Best Place"

The sprawling state of Montana seems an unlikely setting for the next major battle against climate change. Compared to the Keystone XL protests that have spanned the continent, with mass sit-ins outside the White House and high-profile celebrity arrests, last year’s Coal Export Action in Helena was a modest yet groundbreaking achievement, with a few hundred participants and 23 arrests. In fact, in a state with one of the sparsest populations in the country, it was a huge triumph–the largest climate-related act of civil disobedience in Montana’s history–and the first time issues surrounding coal export mining have broken into Montana’s public discourse and press. In addition to opening a floodgate of mine development, the state’s incoming mine and railroad proposals pose a direct health threat to local residents and destroy more land. If successful in blocking the development of new coal mines in Montana, the Coal Export Action will not only be protecting Montana’s valuable agricultural resources, but will also prevent further pollution from coal trains running throughout the Pacific Northwest. In doing so, it will be setting a powerful precedent towards advancing clean energy solutions.

We arrived in Helena after a couple of days of driving through endless green mountains, right as the Coal Export Action was wrapping up the last of their arraignments and legal paperwork. Several people emerged from the courthouse, just down the street from City Hall, where the rotunda had been the site of a week of civil disobedience. The place where activists and residents gathered against coal export mining and delivered their demands to Attorney General Steve Bullock was, by that point, deserted. The sunlit halls were also eerily quiet.

Although demand for coal is dropping, the coal mining industry grows, largely to supply developing foreign markets. Arch Coal chose Montana, the state dubbed “The Last Best Place” for the construction of the Otter Creek Mine—and, by extension, the Tongue River Railroad. The fate of Arch Coal’s proposed mining projects lies in the hands of the Montana State Land Board. The Board proceeded with the decision-making process, but the Department of Environmental Quality halted the decision, amidst community dissent, marking a temporary victory for the Coal Export Action. Arch Coal's application for the Otter Creek Mine is currently being reviewed by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. During the open comment period, over 2,000 people raised concerns about environmental and climate issues.

The DEQ's draft environmental impact statement is expected later this year. Following a second comment period, a final decision on the Otter Creek Mine permit will likely be made by early 2014. In the meantime, the proposed Tongue River Railroad is forced to revise its environmental impact statement, while the Coal Export Action is organizing a targeted awareness campaign against candy corporation, Mars, Inc., whose heir, Forrest Mars Jr., is a major shareholder of the Tongue River Railroad project.

People interested in raising awareness are encouraged to join the Coal Export Action’s sticker campaign by seeking stores selling Mars candy (e.g. M&Ms, Snickers, Milky Way, Skittles, Twix, Starburst, 3 Musketeers) and place informative stickers on them that will alert consumers that their money would be financing coal.

Of the 23 people arrested during the week of action, 14 attempted to go to trial using a "necessity defense," arguing that the urgency of climate change necessitates direct action. Having recently been denied this option, the defendants are now pleading "no contest." The Coal Export Action calls on courts across the country to take this defense more seriously in cases of climate activism.

[thepeoplesrecord]

Uprising in Montana: Activists take a stand against coal experts August 21, 2012

 Hundreds converged from across the country for the Coal Export Action and 23 participated in five days of civil disobedience in protest of the coal industry’s latest scheme to save itself from obsolescence. The message we sent reverberated around the state capitol here in Helena, MT: We will not sit idly by while King Coal attempts to export coal from the Powder River Basin through port towns in Oregon and Washington to Asian energy markets.

Every day, people sat-in in the middle of the Montana statehouse until it closed at 6 pm. At 5:30, the nervous facilities manager, Marv Eicholtz, would awkwardly give the larger group the first dispersal order. At 5:50, he’d issue a second one with Helena policemen standing in the background. At 6 pm, Eicholtz would approach and say, “I’m giving you the third and final dispersal warning. Anyone refusing to leave the building will be turned over to the Helena Police Dept.” Those not risking arrested would circle around those sitting in and ask them why we were going to jail, sing civil rights songs, or chant. They’d then quickly leave and wait outside as the police brought the arrestees out to idling sheriff’s vans and took them to the Lewis and Clark county jail.

Every day for five days this routine happened over and over. By the end of the week, 23 had been arrested. Most of the arrestees were from Montana, Oregon and Washington—all states expected to be impacted by coal exports, coal trains and expanded western coal mining. 

On the fourth day, I joined the sit-in with my friends Griff (an Episcopal minister from Portland), Jasmine and Gloria (who are Rising Tide organizers in Portland and Chicago, respectively), and younger activists Mia and Kai’l (both from Portland). Every day was a theme day, and on our day it was “climate change day.” Quite fitting since everyone arrested that day had worked on climate campaigns from Appalachia to the South Side of Chicago to Oregon port towns at one time or another. All six of us opted not to pay the $340 bond and be bailed out. We spent the night in the Lewis and Clark county lock up in general population, a small sacrifice for making a statement against coal exports.

Montana Rising

The Coal Export Action was initiated and led by grassroots, youth, and student organizers from Montana, Oregon, and Washington, most of them affiliated with the Blue Skies Campaign and the Cascade Climate Network. It was also supported by a number of environmental and climate groups like Rainforest Action Network, 350.org, and Rising Tide North America. It was inspired by the Tar Sands Action called for by writer Bill McKibben at the White House in 2011, which resulted in over 1,200 arrests. Some of the 23 arrested in Helena last week were also participants in the actions at the White House. 

For months, we’d organized, done outreach, and built a buzz calling on people from the coastal and mountain regions of the West to join the Coal Export Action. It was eight days of rolling sit-ins and protests at the Montana statehouse designed to pressure the state’s land board to deny Arch Coal’s permit application to mine Otter Creek and create a new source of greenhouse gas emissions. 

Full article source